291 




MAP OF THE TIOIVITY OF MORBI6TOWU. NEW JtCSBY. 
(From * MS. mmp by H. Er«kine, F.R.P., a»fd by llio army, mS-RO. N«nici io Ilalia lira not In the original.) 



Dffcniher, ITTf!, and must not h(^. confonndod 
with a second battle at tho same (iluco in 17S0. 
On the '.'I'd of Doci^mbcr Colonfl Ford led 
liis troops b.ick to Morristown, and from a state- 
ment made by General Maxwell we learn that, 
while on parade on the morninR of December 
.'list, he was sei/.'*d with "a delirium in his 
head ; that he was bonie off by a conple of sol- 
diers, after whirh he never rose from liis bed. 



of the Mount Hope property, which afterward, 
under Fac'^ch, prodticed shot largely for our 
army. Farly in 177ti, as I learn from a manu- 
s<ri|)t in the New Jersey Historical Society, the 
younfjer Ford nprccd with the Provincial Con- 
>;ress of New Jersey '"to erect a jiowder-mill 
for the makinp of ptinfiowder, an article so es- 
sentially necessary at the i)re8ent time." The 
Congress agreed to "lend him X'JOflO of the 



During his illness a doulde guanl was mounted public money for one year, without interest, on 
before liis door." He died on the 1 hh of Jan- his giving satisfactory security for the same, to 
uary, 1777. and by command of Washington be repaid within the lime of one year in gooti 
w;is buried with military honors. It is worthy merchantable powder;" the first installment of 
of remark that this regrettcil ollicer was soon [ "one ton of good merchantable gunpowder" to 
followed to the grave by his father, Colonel l>c paid "on the 1st of July next, and one ton 
J.-r'ob Ford, Sen., who died on tho I'.ith of ' per month thereafter till the sum of X2(X)0 bt> 
•frinuary, having been a leading citizen in Mor- paid." I have reason to infer that Colonel 
.. County from the time of its organization. I Ford's "pood merchantable gunpowder" did 
Colonel Jactib Ford, Jun., wasconnected with ' sTvice that winter at SpringficKI, Trenton, 
an enterprise which proved of signal importance I'rinceton. and in many other places. This 
to tho country during the war. Both he and j powder-mill at Morristown, projected and built 
his father were men of large means. The Tion by Coloncd Ford, was an important affair, and 
was an enterprising man, who some years l>efore deserves niention in connection with his name, 
the war had erecteil several forges west of Morris- and es[»ecially as this mill was one constant 
town for making iron. He was the first owner . temptation to the enemy to attempt to reach 



292 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



Morristown, and as constant a reason why the 
citizens of Morris County so stoutly defended 
their strongholds that it is said a detachment 
of the enemy never did enter the county. 

On the Gth or 7th of January, 1777, Wash- 
ington reached Morristown, and took winter- 
quarters at the Arnold Tavern. The house is 
still standing, although somewhat changed since 
it sheltered its most illustrious guest. It is on 
the west side of the square, and is now owned 
by William Duncan. In 1777 it was owned 
by Colonel Jacob Arnold, the efficient com- 
mander of a company of light horse, a detach- 
ment of which was on duty as body-guard of 
Governor Livingston. The Arnold Tavern at 
that time was a two-storied house. The first 
floor was divided into four rooms, a hall run- 
ning from front to rear. The two rooms on 
the soutli side of this hall were occupied by 
Washington, who used the front room as a 
general office and sitting-room, and the back 
room for a sleeping apartment. Tradition 
states that it was in this house he was so sick 
with quinsy sore throat that serious fears were 
felt lest he should not recover, and that he was 
asked whom he considered most competent to 
succeed him in case of his death. His reply 
])oiuted out General Greene as that man. 

After the Battle of Princeton the enemy went 
into winter-quarters at New Brunswick. On 
reaching Morristown Washington wrote : " The 
situation is by no means favorable to our views ; 
and as sooia as the purposes are answered for 
which we came, I think to remove, though I 
confess I do not know how we shall procure 
covering for our men elsewhere." And yet, 
when we consider how easy the communication 
was between Morristown and the posts on the 
Delaware and Hudson, how easy the passes 
leading into Morristown were to be guarded, 
how admirable the position for gaining intelli- 
gence concerning the enemy, and, moreover, the 
fact that Morris County was settled with a high- 



ly patriotic population, it may well be question- 
ed whether Wasliington could have found a sit- 
uation better adapted to his wants. 

Let us glean a few facts from old books and 
manuscripts, and also from eye-witnesses who 
until recently were living to tell what they had 
seen. These facts will show what was the con- 
dition of things when Washington spent his 
first winter here. The records of the courts 
show that the pecuniary embarrassments of the 
people were very great. The mass of the peo- 
ple were Whig in sentiment and action. Thom- 
as Millege, of Hanover, a wealthy land propri- 
etor, had been elected sheriff of the county, but 
writes in April, 177G, that he has scruples of 
conscience about the oath of office. His scru^ 
pies finally led him to join the enemy, and his 
large estate was confiscated. I have before me 
an old manuscript which states that after the 
war Millege ventured back to Hanover, and 
that the people apjiointed a committee of three 
officers, who waited on him "without any cere- 
mony, and told him that he must be out of the 
place by sunrise next morning, and never be seen 
in Hanover again, or he would be drummed out 
of the county on a wooden horse. Before sun- 
rise he went, and has not been seen here since." 

The merits of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence were sliarply discussed by the people, and 
the late Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green remembers that 
his father, widely known as Parson Green, held 
"many an ardent controversy with an English 
emigrant, a man of considerable ]iroperty, and 
not a little hauteur, who had drunk deeply into 
Toryism." This Tory was alarmed at a threat 
of a coat of tar and feathers, and induced Par- 
son Green to write for him " a humiliating 
statement" to be read on the next Sabbath 
publicly. This was done, the man standing 
up while his confession of the sin of Toryism 
was read from the pulpit. The man then 
started for Morristown to have Dr. Johnes read 
the same confession there during the afternoon 



r^^^^^ll^ 




THE FAESCH BOUSD. 



WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 



293 



service ; but the Doctor declined to do it. I 
state the fact to show how popular the Inde- 
pendence cause was, wluch could compel a Tory 
to such a humiliating step. In I'oquannock 
township there were some beautiful farms bc- 
lonKinjj; to the patriots, which certain Tories 
exDCcted to get when conliscation should take 
place. The patriots in that rcj^ion held long 
and frequent consultations in the house of a 
Mrs. Miller, whose sturdy counsels had great 
weight with her neighbors. In Jlendham, 
with very few exceptions, the people were pa- 
triots. Captain Davitl Thonipson, a devout el- 
der in the I'resbytcrian Church, and noted for 
his eloquence in prayer, said, " We can look to 
Jehovah when all other refuges fail ;" and the 
Captain's wife declared to the numerous sol- 
diers whom she entertained without charge that 
" nothing was too good for the use of diose who 
fight for our country !" In Whippany the res- 
olute Anna Kitchol scorned to procure a Brit- 
ish protection wlien urged to do so by a timid 
deacon, "having," as she told him, "a hus- 
band, lather, and five brothers in the American 
army ! If the God of Battles do not care for 
us, we will fare with tlie rest!" Well said, 
brave Anna Kitchel! And she was not the 
only brave woman in Morris Countj-. There 
were hundreds who cultivated the fields, and 
took care of the old and the young, whflc the 
men were away to defend the country. 

If we go among the mountains northwest of 
Jlorristown, we find that Charles Iloif, the man- 
ager of the Ilibemia Furnace, is urging Lord 
Stirling to bring General Knox up, in order to 
see if good c.innon can not be cast there. In 
one letter he assured his Lordship that on a 
certain day tliey did cast a cannon which " miss- 
ed in the breach ; ail the rest was sound and 
good." But if they made no cannon at Hiber- 
nia they made large quatitities of ball and shot, 
as they also did at Mount Hope. The jiowder- 
mill at Morristown is making considerable (pian- 
tities of " good merchantable guni)Owder," which 
fact the enemy arc known to regard with but 
little favor. And in order to increase the en- 
emy's discimifort in thi'j respect, it is .said that 
occasionally loads of kegs, apparently full of 
powder, but in reality of sand, were ostenta- 
tiously conveyed from the mill to the msiga- 
zine, carefully guarded with soldiers. 

Aiuong the remarkable men of .Morris Coun- 
ty at that time was Colonel William Winds, 
who had just led his regiment back from Ticon- 
deroga. He was an eccentric man, with a voice 
like thunder, greatly beloved by his soldiers, a 
man of undoubted bravcrj- and patriotism, and 
of whom many curious anecdotes are retained 
in the popular memon,- to this day. The pul- 
pit of the Morristown rrcsbytcrian Church was 
occujiied by Dr. Tinjuthy Johncs, whoso con- 
temiioraries describe hiiu as aniibl but oniincnt- 
ly i>ersua<ivo priMichcr, and as a most ailmirable 
pastor. Washington was a constant attcn<lant 
on his preaching both winters ho spent in Mor- 
ristown. Dr. Johncs was a decided patriot, 



and did not exclude his views from the pulpit. 
The Black River— now Chester— pulpit was oc- 
cupied by the Kev. Mr. Woodhull, who not only 
preaciied patriotism, but repeatedly represented 
his i)eople in the Provincial Congress, i'arson 
Green, of Hanover, a man of very uncommon 
abilities, was also elected to the Provincial Con- 
gress, and threw his influence very decidedly in 
favor of his country. 

These facts arc merely grouped together to 
show what was the character and the condition 
of the people when Washington came among 
them. They were not as rich as patriotic, but 
they did what they could, and their illustrious 
guest repeatedly acknowledged his obligations 
to them. 

It is an interesting ta.sk to gather up the few 
facts which yet remain descriptive of the situa- 
tion of the army that winter. It is somewhat 
singular that, in his works of Washington, Mr. 
Sparks docs not even record Bottle Hill — now 
Madison — or in any way mention the fact that 
the principal encampment that winter was near 
that place. The same is true of Lossing's 
Field-Book of the Revolution, and of other 
works. This hiatus can now be supplied from 
authentic sources. About one mile and a half 
from the present village of Madison, near the 
road leading to Morristown, was the encamp- 
ment in what has been called Spring Valley, 
but the Indian name of it is Lowantica Valley. 
The higlilands slope gracefully into a very fine 
southern exposure, well protected from the 
northern winds. Through this valley flows a 
beautiful si)ring brook. The encampment was 
on the property of one Isaac I'ierson, whoso 
daughter-in-law still surs-ives at the age of 
ninety years. The facts relating to this en- 
campment have been gathered in a manuscript 
by the Rev. Samuel L. Tuttle, pastor of the 
Presbyterian Church of Madison. 

A iargc part of the soldiers were quartered 
upon the iuiiabitants in Hanover, Whippany, 
Chatham, Madison, and Morristown. This 
was done by c(jmraissioners, of whom Aaron 
Kitchel, of Ilanovcr, wius one. This gentle- 
man was a man of excellent ji.arts, and acted a 
conspicuous part in the Rcvolutiouarj- War. 
He had two houses, and gave uj) the larger one 
to the sfddiers. Dr. Ashbel Green remembers 
that his father's flxmily "consisted of nine in- 
dividuals ; and, as well as can bo recollected, 
A>urtcen ofticers ami soldiers were quartered in 
the same dwelling." Mr. Uzal Kitchel, a wor- 
thy farmer in Whippany, had twelve soldiers to 
keep that winter. It is said that ho refused to 
keep forty-one, tho ntmiber an officer wished 
to billet on him. There w.os scarcely a house 
in that entire vicinity in which soldiers were 
not billeted ; and tho general spirit of the 
IK'oj)le was well cxi>rcsscd by Mrs. Hannah 
Tlmnjpson, wife of Captain David, when she 
sai<l to certain hungry soldiers, " You arc en- 
gaged in a good canso, and wo aro willing to 
share with you what wo have as long as it 
I lasts." Noble women, noble men were those 



294 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



who entertained the soldiers of Washington 
that winter ! 

While his officers were looking after the com- 
fort of the soldiers Washington was not idle at 
the Arnold Tavern. Frequently he rode to the 
different ])oints where his soldiers were sta- 
tioned to assure himself of their comfort. Fre- 
quently with his suite he rode through Madison 
aud Chatham to the brow of the Short Hills, 
whence he could overlook all the country as 
far as New York. Here he always kept a sen- 
tinel, who had an alarm gun — named " The Old 
Sow"^^and the materials for a beacon fire al- 
ways ready. In addition to these duties we find 
Washington conducting a stern correspondence 
with Lord Howe concerning the cruel treat- 
ment of our countrymen "on board the prison- 
shi])s in the harbor of New York." He calls it 
"barbarous usage," and says that "their miser- 
able, emaciated countenances confirm" the re- 
ports which the escaped prisoners bring back. 
These letters did good, and taught his lordship 
a lesson in humanity. There are other causes 
of anxiety which trouble him. The term of en- 
listment of many of the soldiers was drawing 
to a close, and he entreats the President of 
Congress, the various Committees of Safety, 
and the Governors of the different States, to 
send him men and munitions. On the 2Gth of 
January he wrote: "Reinforcements come up 
so extremely slow that I am afraid I shall be 
left without any men before they arrive. The 
enemy must be ignorant of our numbers, or they 
have not horses to move their artillery, or they 
would not suffer us to remain undisturbed." 

At this point I may introduce a tradition 
which probably is authentic. It is said that a 
certain man was employed by Washington as a 
spy to gain information concerning the enemy, 
but it was suspected tliat he carried more news 
to the enemy than he brought to those in wliose 
employ he was. General Greene, who acted as 
Quarter-Master General, occupied a small office 
on the southeast corner of the public square, 
where the store of Mr. William Lindsley now 
is. One day Colonel Hamilton was in this of- 
fice when the suspected spy made his appear- 
ance. The Colonel had made out what pirr- 
ported to be a careful statement of the condi- 
tion of the army as to numbers and munitions, 
making the numbers much more flattering than 
the actual facts. Leaving this statement on 
the table apparently by mistake. Colonel Ham- 
ilton left the office saying he would return in a 
few minutes. The spy instantly seized the pa- 
per as a very authentic document, and left with 
it for parts unknown ! It was supposed that 
this trick did much to preserve the army at 
Morristown from attack that winter. 

The anxieties of Washington were to be in- 
creased by the inroads of an unexpected and 
dreaded enemy — the small-pox. It has been 
supposed by some that this disease was intro- 
duced into the American camp through the 
agency of the British commander, but I have 
seen no authority to confirm so harsh an opin- 



ion. The Morristown bill of mortality shows 
that, on the 11th of January, 1777, the widow 
Martha Bull died of small-pox. On the 24th 
Gershom Hatheway, and on the 31st Ebenezer 
Weed died of the same disease. On the 5th 
of February Washington wrote: "The small- 
pox has made such head in every quarter that 
I find it impossible to keep it from spreading 
through the whole army in the natural way. 
I have therefore determined not only to inocu- 
late all the troops now here that have not had 
it, but shall order Dr. Sliippen to inoculate the 
recruits as fast as they come to I^hiladelphia. 
They will lose no time, because they will go 
through the disorder while their clothing, arms, 
and accoutrements are getting ready." 

Dr. Green, in his Autobiography, states that 
the determination to inoculate the soldiers 
" produced great alarm among the inhabit- 
ants." Parson Green and some of his leading 
parishioners had a conference with Washing- 
ton on this subject, and so cogently did he de- 
fend the measure that the Hanover Committee 
"came back perfectly reconciled to the meas- 
ure." The most of those who took the disease 
in the natural way died. 

If we examine the Morristown bill of mor- 
tality, we find that in February the small-pox is 
raging in that parish. Pastor Johnes attend- 
ed eleven funerals among his own people in 
February caused by small-pox, in March nine, 
in April twenty-one, and in May eleven funer- 
als produced by small-pox. These do not in- 
clude deaths in the army from the same cause. 
Some days Dr. Johnes attended two such fu- 

: nerals; and on the 14th and 30th of April he 
attended three each day. This terrible dis- 

j ease spared no age or condition ; the little in- 
fant, the mother, the father, the youth, the 
aged, the free and the bond, perished before 

I this destroyer. Sixtt-eight small-pox funer- 

[ als did Dr. Johnes attend among his own peo- 
ple that memorable year. And I may add that 
putrid sore throat, and dysenterj', with other 
diseases, swelled the deaths in that parish in 
1777 to a sum total of two hundred and five, 
which was one death to every one day and a 
half tlie year through. The good pastor had 
sorrow upon sorrow, and the bell, which still 
strikes the hours in the old church, never was 
so busy in sounding the death-knell as in that 
fearful year of 1 777. 

And so death carried on a warfare with both 
soldiers and citizens that winter, but their faith 
in God did not waver. It was a dark time ; 
but they believed that "a good time was com- 
ing." Washington was not an unmoved spec- 
tator of the trials about him, which he could do 
but little to alleviate. That winter, so far a-; 
I can now learn, had but few of the gay assem- 
blies common to the winter-quarters of an army. 
Death rioted on every hand, and dancing and 
death make not pleasant partners. In the 
spring of 1777 the old church at Morristown 
was used as a hospital for the army ; but prob- 
ably not for small-pox patients, but for those 



WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 



20^ 



sick of other diseases. This accounts for the 
fact that before \Vashin;^ton left IMorristowii 
tliat sjiriuj;, as traJilioii says, h(! attended \<n\>- 
lic service several times in the open air. The 
jdacc of meeting was in a grove immediately 
hack of Dr. Johnes's house. It is said that on 
one occasion he was occupying a chair wiiich 
had been brought for his use when a woman 
with a child entered the assembly. Wash- 
ington seeing that she had no seat immediate- 
ly rose and seated her in his chair. Indeed 
there are many traditions which speak of the 
unvarying courteousness of this great man while 
iu Morris County, insomuch so that the ])eo])le 
\iot merely regarded hira as the hero of Tren- 
ton anil I'rinccton, but as the perfect gcntle- 
miyi. It was during this spring also that the 
fact occurred which is related by Ilnsack in his 
Life of Clinton : '" Wiiile the American army, 
under the command of Washington, lay in the 
vicinity of Morristown, the service of tiie Com- 
munion (then observed semi-annually only) was 
to be ailminislered iu the I'resbyterian Church 
in that village. In a morning of the previous 
week the General, after his accustomed inspec- 
tion of the camp, visited the house of the Kev. 
Dr. Jolines, then pastor of that church, and 
after the usual preliminaries, thus accosted 
him : ' J^octor, I understand that the Lord's 
Supper is to be celebrated with you next Sun- 
day. I would learn if it accords with the can- 
ons of your Church to admit communicants of 
another denomination.' The J^octor rejoined, 
' Most certainly : ours is not the I'resbyterian's 
t.tble, General, but the Lord's : and hence we 
give the Lord's invitation to all his followers 
of whatsoever name.' The General replied, 
' I am glad of it : that is as it ought to be ; but 
as I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought I 
would ascertain it from yourself, as I propose to 
join you on that occasion. Though a member 
of the Church of England I have no exclusive 
partialities.' The Doctor assured him of a 



cordial welcome, and the General was found 
seated with the communicants the next Sab- 
bath." 

Uu the 2d of March Washington wrote that 
"(icncral Howe can not have less than ten 
thousand men in the Jerseys. Our number 
does not exceed four thousand. His are well- 
disciplined, well-oflicercd, and wcll-ajipointtMl. 
Ours are raw militia, badly oflicercd, and un- 
der no government." The balance in this ac- 
count seemed decidedly against him, and yet 
his faith failed not. 

Meanwhile the entire army has been inocu- 
lated with suri)rising success. Divine Provi- 
dence, smiling on the jdan, sent very favorable 
weather, and suffered tlie disease by inoculation 
to assume a mild type. When the campaign 
oi)cned this enemy was not dreaded. Colonel 
Ford's powder-mill has not been idle, but has 
produced a respectable quantity of "good mer- 
chantable jiowdcr." The blast furnaces at Ili- 
bernia aiul M(mnt Hope have also funiished 
some tons of hard balls and shot, and fitted to 
strike hard blows when sent by good powder. 
One memorable occurrence enlivened all hearts 
at Morristown just as the camjiaign was oj>cn- 
ing, and that was the news that two vessels had 
just arrived from France with 24,000 muskets. 
It was about the end of May that Washington 
led his army from Morristown to engage in the 
campaign of 1777, made memorable by the 
bloody reverses at Chad's Ford and German- 
town. 

I pass over the intcnening time between 
Washington's leaving Morristowm in May, 1777, 
and his return to it in December, 177'.). The 
duty of selecting the winter-quarters had been 
committed to General Greene, who had reported 
two places to tlie Commander-in-Chief — the one 
at Aquackanock, and the other within four miles 
of Morristown. Greene preferred the former, 
and, from some manuscript letters, I infer he 
was chagrined that Washington chose Morris- 




Ti:i; loiii) MAN'^! 'N 



296 



HAEPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 




town. On the 7th of 
December, 1779, he 
writes to Governor 
LiviuRston from Mor- 
ristown that "the 
main army lies within 
three or four miles of 
this place," and on the 
15th he ordered Gen- 
(^rals Greene and Dii- 
portail to " examine 
all the grounds in the 
environs of our pres- 
ent encampment for 
spots most proper to 
be occupied in case 
of any movement of 

the enemy toward us," the positions to be large 
enough for the manoeuvres of ten thousand 
men. 

On the 1st of December Washington became 
the guest of Mrs. Ford, the widow of Colonel 
.Jacob Ford, Jun., and daughter of the excellent 
pastor, Dr. Johnes. The fine old mansion was 
built in 1774: in the most substantial manner. 
It lies on the gentle elevation half a mile east 
of town, and is in full view as you ap]iroach the 
town on the railroad. The view from the house, 
in every direction, is extremely beautiful. It is 
a pleasing fact that this house, in which Wash- 
ington lived one winter, has undergone scarcely 
any change since he occupied it. The same 




WABHINGTON' 8 BECKETABY AND CHAIB. 



ANTIQUE OENAMENTAL TABLE USED BY WASHINGTON. 

weather-boards which resisted the storms of 
that severe winter are doing the same service 
now. The spacious hall is the same as when 
the manly form of Washington first stood there ; 
not a plank has been changed, and the same 
old double door that opened and shut for him 
opens and shuts for you. "The widow Eliza- 
beth Lindsley," the honored mother of Colonel 
Jacob Ford, Sen., " lived almost long enough to 
see this house built; and if we reckon her as one 
generation, then we have the somewhat un- 
American fact that seven generations of the 
same family have lived in the same mansion ; 
and, if nothing prevent, the old house is good 
for another hundred years at least. Excepting 
the matter of paper and paint, your eye rests on 
the same cornices, casements, surbases, win- 
dows, mantle-pieces, fire-places, and hearth- 
stones that were there when Washington dwelt 
there. I confess to be moved by very peculiar 
feelings in visiting a place hallowed with asso- 
ciations which gather around no other place in 
this country. Take this old chair, which Wash- 
ington once used, 
and scat yourself by 
this old secretary in 
the hall at which he 
often wrote ; or take 
this plain little tabic 
— a favorite with 
Washington that 
winter — on which he 
is said to have writ- 
ten many of those 
noble letters which 
issued from Morris- 
town that winter; 
look at the very ink- 
spots on that table, 
said to be spots left 
by him, and then 
read carefully the 
letters which he 
wrote in that house ; 
let your imagination 
bring back the past, 
not only Washing- 
ton but his dignified 
wife, the brilliant 




WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 



297 




SMALL U UITlNG-TAliLE. 



Alexander Hamil- 
ton, the recreant 
Quaker but maRuif- 
icent soldier, Na- 
tiumicl Greene, the 
stern Steulien, the 
polished Koseiusz- 
ko, the accom- 
plished Stirling, the 
noble Knox, and 
perhaps, as an occa- 
sional visitor there, 
Benedict Arnold, a 
Satan in Paradise, 
and you have the 
materials with which 
to start your emo- 
tions however lethargic they may be." 

Several articles of furniture which were nsed 
by Washington are still in tiie house. A chair 
and secretary are in the hall ; a very pretty 
parlor secretary is in tlic parlor; in one of 
the upper rooms is the little table already re- 
ferred to; and in the bedroom on the first floor 
is the very mirror which hung in Washington's 
bedroom. 

On the 22d of January^ 1780, Washington 
wrote to Greene; the Quarter-Master General, 
that "eighteen belon^^ing to my own family, 
and all Mrs. Ford's, are crowded together into 
her kitchen, and scarce one of them able to speak 
for the colds they have caught." Washington 
occupied the southeast rooms on the first and 
second floors. Back of the main house a log- 
cabin was built as a kitchen for Washington's 



family, and at the southwest end of the house 
another cabin was built as a general office. 
This was occupied by Colonel Hamilton and 
Major Tench Tighlman. These buildings were 
guarded by sentinels day and ni;^ht. In the 
meadow, southeast of the house, were cabins 
for the Life-Guard, said to consist of two hun- 
dred and fifty men, under the command of Gen- 
eral Colfax. 

If wo pass toward Morristown we come to 
the house once occupied by the jiastor. Dr. 
Jolines. In the town itself, and just back of 
the present building, was the old church, and 
in its steejilc hung the very bell which still sum- 
mons the people to the house of God. On the 
west side of the public square was the Arnold 
Tavern ; on the south side, where now is Wash- 
ington Hall, was the old magazine, and oppo- 
site that General Greene's office. Trobably 
most of the private houses had military guests. 

On the mountain ba( k of the court-house is 
what is known as Fort Nonsense. There are 
signs of work having been done here as if in 
preparation for some kind of a fortification. 
Ur Lewis Condict says that there are two ac- 
counts given of this fort : the one is, that Wash- 
ington designed to plant cannon there, with 
which to command all the entrances to Morris- 
town in case of an attack from the enemy ; the 
other and more probable account is, that Wash- 
ington, finding his troops needed exercise, both 
for purposes ©f health and military subordina- 
tion, set them to work at this fortification, as 
if it were a matter of the utmost importance in 
defending the stores, the people, and the armv 







A 







rORT NONSENSE. 



298 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 







TUE OLD WIOKE H01TBE. 



itself. Having answered its design, tradition 
says that Washington asked one of his friends 
what tlie useless fort should be named. The 
reply was, "Let it bo called Fort Nonsense." 

The principal encampment in the winter of 
1779-80 was on the Wicke and Kimball farms, 
about four miles southwest of Morristown. The 
Wieke House is still standing, and has under- 
gone but few changes. On the outside door 
still hangs the heavy dog-headed knocker whicli 
has often startled the family when the army was 
encamped on the farm. An immense chimney- 
stack occuj)ies the centre of tlie house, on three 
sides of wliich are large fire-places. 

The camps of the various brigades were scat- 
tered over a tract of about two thousand acres. 
Scattered over this the remains of manv chim- 



ney foundations are still visible. They can be 
traced for a considerable distance along the face 
of the elevaticm, which is still known as Fort 
Hill. This liill slopes stcejjly on the north, 
east, and west sides. On the sunmiit there are 
traces of huts, but no .signs of a jiarapet. The 
top was probably leveled, so tliat the artillery, 
in case of attack, could sweep the entire face of 
the mountain. 

Let ns now gather, so far as possible, what took 
place that winter. Dr. Thachcr, in his Militan/ 
Journal, says, that his brigade, on the 14th of 
December, 1779, reached "this wilderness about 
three miles from Morristown, where we are to 
build log-huts for winter-quarters." At that 
date the same witness says, "The snow on the 
ground is about two feet deep, and the weather 



WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 



299 



extremely cold. The soldiers are destitute of 
both tents and blankets, and some of them arc 
actually barefooted and almo,-it naked. Our 
only defense aj^ainst the inclemency of the 
weather consists of brushwood thrown together. 
Our lodging last ni^ht was on the frozen ground. 
'I'hose otHcers who iiave the privilege of a horse 
can always have a blanket at hand. Having 
removed the snow we wrappeil ourselves in great- 
coats, spread our blankets on the ground, and 
lay down by the side of each otiier, five or six 
together, with large fires at our feet, leaving or- 
ders with the waiters to keep it well sui)plied 
with fuel during the night. We could procure 
neither shelter nor forage for our horses, and 
the poor animals were tied to trees in the woods 
for twenty-four hours without food, except the 
bark which they peeled from the trees." The 
whole army set to work to build hut.s, but the 
weather was so severe that the half-clad soldiers 
suffered greatly. "In addition to otlier suffer- 
ings," says Thacher, " the whole army has been 
for seven or eight days entirely destitute of the 
staff of life ; our only food is miserable fresh 
beef, without bread, salt, or vegetables." 

But lest some may think that tlie severit}' of 
that winter has been exaggerated, let me glean 
a few facts from the newspapers of the day. 
The New Jersei/ Gazette, of February 9, 1 7tiO, 
says: " The weather has been so extremely cold 
for near two montlis past that sleighs and other 
carriages now pass from this place (Trenton) to 
Philadelphia on tlie Delaware, a circumstance 
not remembered by the oldest person among 
us." As early as December 18, 1779, an offi- 



!.>x v^VSJ-"w-^^ 



cer writes from Baskin Ridge that "the weather 
is excessively cold ;" and a correspondent, who 
writes to tlie (Inzetlc. about the exi)edition which 
Lord Stirling led against the enemy on Staten 
Island, states not merely that they crossed on 
the ice to the island, but that one of the enemy, 
being pursued, crossed "the Kills" to the Jer- 
sey shore on the ice — a circumstance then re- 
garded as unparalleled, but which has been done 
this last winter. The Hudson River was frozen 
so that foot-passengers and, as I have heard old 
people say, even teams crossed on the ice from 
Jersey City and Hohoken to New York. So 
far as mere cold was concerned, that winter was 
one of unparalleled and continuous severity. 
Add to this the snow-storms, and we have a 
winter awful to be encountered by an army so 
poorly clad, housed, and fed as was ours. 

On the 14th of December, according toThach- 
cr, the snow was about two feet deep. On the 
22d of that month an officer writes to the New 
Jemcif (Jazetle that a snow-storm was raging. 
But the great snow-storm began on the 3d of 
January. The contemporary newsjiapers speak 
of this storm as most terrific, and 1 have heard 
old people describe it. Dr. Thacher has given 
us a minute description too interesting to be 
omitted. He says that 

"On the 3il inst. (January, 17S0) we experienced one 
of tlie niOHt tremondDiis snow-storms ever remembered ; 
no man could endure its vioknce many minutes without 
danger of his life. Several niar(|uees were torn asunder 
and blown down over the officers' headd in the night, 
and some of the soldiirs were actually covered while in 
their tents, and buried like sheep under the snow. My 
comrades and myself were roused from sleep by thj calls 







rOBT UII.L 



300 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



of some officers for assistance ; their marquee liad blowu 
down, and tliey were almost smothered in the storm he- 
fore they could reach our marquee, only a few yards dis- 
tant, and their blankets and baggage were nearly buried 
in the snow. We (the otBcers) are fortunate in having 
a supply of straw for bedding; over this we spread all 
our blankets, and with our clothes and large fires at our 
feet, while four or five are crowded together, preserve 
ourselves from freezing. But the sufferings of the poor j 
soldiers can scarcely be described: while on duty they 
are unavoidably exposed to all the inclemency of the 
storm and severe cold ; at night they now have a bed of 
Btraw on the ground, and a single blanket to each man ; 
they are badly clad, and some of them are destitute of 
shoes. AVe have contrived a kind of stone chimney out- 
side, and an opening at one end of our tents gives us the 
benefit of the fire within. The snow is now from four to 
six feet deep, which so obstructs the roads as to prevent 
our receiving a supply of provisions. For the last ten 
days we received but two pounds of meat a man, and we 
are frequently for six or eight days entirely destitute of 
meat, and then as long without bread. The consequence 
is, that the soldiers are so enfeebled from hunger and 
cold as to be almost unable to perform their military 
duty or labor in constructing their huts. It is well 
known that General Washington experiences the great- 
est solicitude for the sufferings of his army, and is sens- 
ible that they iu general conduct with heroic patience 
and fortitude." 

This storm, so graphically described, contin- 
ued several days, and we shall not appreciate 
the sufferings of our army if we do not remem- 
ber that the huts, according to Thacher, were 
not occupied until the middle of February. I 
have conversed with the descendants of some 
Mendham people who baked for the army. 
They liad it from their ancestors tliat for sev- 
ei al days access to the army, even from Mend- 
ham or Morristown, was next to impossible ; 
and an officer, under date of 26th January, 
1780, writes to the New Jersey Gazette in a 
merry style, as follows : 

" We had a fast lately in camp, by general constraint, 
of the whole array, in which we fasted more sincerely 
and truly for three daijs than ever we did from all the 
resolutions of Congress put together. This was occasion- 
ed by the .severity of the weather and drifting of the 
snow, whereby the roads were rendered impassable and 
all supplies of provision cut off; until the officers were 
obliged to release the soldiers from command and permit 
them, in great numbers together, to get provisions where 
they could find them. The inhabitants of this part of the 
country discovered a noble spirit in feeding the soldiers, 
and, to the honor of the soldiery, they received what they 
got with thankfulness, and did little or no damage." 

Published accounts and tradition alike declare 
that Washington suffered acute distress in see- 
ing the suflerini^s of his soldiers. He is said to 
have forced his way to the camp both to cheer 
liis soldiers and to learn, by personal inspection, 
their wants. On the 8th of January he ad- 
dressed a noble letter to "the Magistrates of 
New Jersey," in which he uses the following 
language: "The present state of the army, 
with respect to provisions, is the most distress- 
ing of any we have experienced since the be- 
ginning of the war. For a fortnight past the 
troops, both officers and men, have been almost 
perisliing for Avant. They have been alternate- 
ly williout bread or meat the whole time, with 
a very scanty allowance of cither, and frequent- 
ly destitute of both. They have borne their 
sufferings with a patience that merits the ap- 



probation, and ought to excite the sympathy, 
of their countrymen. But they are now re- 
duced to an extremity no longer to be support- 
ed." This appeal met a warm response from 
the magistrates and the people of New Jersey ; 
for, on the 20th of January, Washington wrote 
to President Witherspoon "that all the counties 
of this State that I have heard from have attend- 
ed to. my requisition for provisions with the 
most cheerful and commendable zeal." To 
" Elbridge Gerry, in Congress," he wrote, on 
the 2itth of January, that "the exertions of the 
mngistrates and inhabitants of that State were 
great and cheerful for our relief." 

It will add interest for one moment to de- 
scend from "cold generalities" to particulars. 
The camp was in the immediate vicinity of 
Mendham, inhabited by one of the most patri- 
otic communities. The spirit of that people 
was properly shadowed forth in the actions and 
words of Hannah, wife of Captain Thompson, 
as she had the great kettle full of meat and veg- 
etables for the hungry soldiers from the snow- 
invested camp. When the poor fellows thanked 
her, she said, "Eat what you want; you are 
engaged in a good cause, and we are willing to 
share with you what we have as long as it lasts I" 
The potato bins, flour barrels, and meat barrels 
of a great many r;ood farmers in Jlorris County, 
besides those of David Thompson, of Mendham, 
and Uzal Kitchel, of Whippany, were freely 
drawn on to supply the wants of " the country's 
defenders." The old people have t(jld me that 
winter the poultry was not at all safe, even at a 
distance of miles from the camp. Elizabeth 
Pierson, second wife of Rev. Jacob Green, 
' ' particularly lamented the loss of a fat tur- 
key ;" but the patriotic parson only showed how 
the people felt when he consoled his wife for 
her loss when he rather excused what the sol- 
diers had done by quoting these words from the 
Book of Proverbs : " Men do not despise a thief, 
if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry." 
It is said that the good man never smiled or 
laughed ; but his eyes must have twinkled a 
laugh over his own apology for the rogues who 
stole the turkey. 

Over on " Smith's Hammock," not far from 
the Hanover Church, Mrs. Smith has assembled 
the good women of the neighborhood to sew 
and knit for the barefooted and barebacked sol- 
diers on the Wicke Farm. In Whippany, Anna 
Kitchel and her neighbors are doing the same 
kind of good works. In Morristown "Mrs. 
Counselor Condict" and " Mrs. Parson Johnes" 
have gathered together their friends to engage 
in the same business. It was so in all the re- 
gion of Morris, and even in Sussex, and many 
a blessing did these deeds of mercy bring down 
on those who sent the clothes. Let the mem- 
ory of those women never perish ! 

And here let me place the capital upon the 
unpretending monument I am raising to the 
memory of these Morris County women of the 
Revolution. On the 28th of December, 1779, 
as we learn from Isaac Collins's newspaper, 



WASHINGTON AT MORIUSTOWN. 



301 




l.OBB STIRLING B MANSION. 



Lady Washington passed thi-ongh Trenton 
while '-the storm was raiding." 8ome pallant 
Virginia soKlicrs, very ])roud of her, and also 
of her husband, as Virginians, paraded in hon- 
or of her, and escorted her on her way toward 
Morristown. She spent New-Year's Day at the 
Ford Mansion. She was not veiy beautiful, 
but she was a verj- engaging woman, whose 
dignity and affability of manners illustrated the 
high position she held. She was a graceful 
and bold rider, and when the weather beeamc 
mild sometimes accompanied her husband in 
his rides to the Wicke Farm or the Short Hills, 
and until recently there were those still living 
who remembered to have seen her riding on 
horseback, and by tlie engaging courtesy with 
which she bowed to the humblest soldier or 
other person she chanced to meet, she won all 
hearts to herself. IJut to my anecdote. It 
was during this severe winter that se'vcral ladies, 
who held high jHjsitions in Morris County soci- 
ety, resolved to visit Lady Washington at the 
Ford Mansion. Among these was "Madame 
Htidd" — as she was called — the mother of Dr. 
Hern Budd, who came near being hanged for 
uttering counterfeit money, was prominent. 
Madame Troupe was another, and they two 
headed quite a circle in this call on the distin- 
guished Lady Washington. As one of the la- 
dies related the fact: "As we were to call on 
so piand a lady we put on our l)est l)ibbs and 
bfinds. So, dressed in our most elegant rutlics 
and silks, we were introiluccd to her ladyship. 
And don't vou think we found her knitting/, ami 



ivith a specllcd (chccl) apron on ! She received 
us very graciously and easily; but after the 
compliments were over, she resumed her knit- 
ting. Tiiere we were, without one stitih of 
work, and sitting in state, while General Wash- 
ington's lady was knitting stockin.^s for her hus- 
band! Anil this was not all. In the course 
of the afternoon she took occasion to say, in a 
very pleasant m.nnncr, that at this time it is 
very imi)ortant that American ladies should be 
patterns of industry to their countrywomen, be- 
cause the sei)aration from tlie mother country 
will dry np the sources whence many of onr 
comforts liave been derived. We must become 
independent by our detennination to do with- 
out what we can not make ourselves. While 
our husltands and brothers are examples of pa- 
triotism, we must be examples of tlirift and in- 
dustry I And all this while her fingers gestic- 
ulated by busily knitting stockings for her hus- 
band I" 

Straws show the course of the current, and I 
have the copy of a pai>er which conveys to us 
a knowledge of one fact which made that winter 
almost unendurable. The original manuscri]it 
is in the jiossession of Thomas liiddle, Ejq., 
near riiiladeliiliiii. This j)apcr reads as fol- 
lows : 

" Tlio suliscribcrs Rgroc to pay the sums annexed to 
tlirir rcBpeclivo names, and an equal ((iiota of any fur- 
ther expense wlilrh may bo IncurrcJ in the promofioi 
and support of a danelng nwombly to bo hold in Morri»- 
toivn lh« present winter of 178)." 

The subscriptions to this paper ore headed 



302 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY IVIAGAZINE. 



by the name of George Washington ; and it is 
signed by thirty-four persons, among whom are 
Generals Greene, Knox, Stirling, and Wilivin- 
son, Colonels Hamilton, Erskine, Jackson, 
Hand, Baron de Kalb, and others. But it was 
not the names which excite so much attention 
as tlie sum which is set over against each name, 
which is simply "four hundred dollars," mak- 
ing the round sum of thirteen thousand and six 
hundred dollars "for the support of a dancing 
assembly in Morristown this present winter of 
1780!" These assembly balls were held at 
' ' O'Hara's Tavern, " which was probably the 
building in which Washington had his head- 
quarters in 1777. 

I will frankly confess this subscription paper 
produced an unpleasant sensation in my mind, 
and no reasonings have as yet entirely removed 
the sense of unfitness in the contrast of dancing 
assemblies at O'Hara's tavern and the sufferings 
of the barefooted, naked, starving soldiers in 
the camp only four miles off. Just think of 
what one of those men, who did not attend the 
assembly balls, related. It was Captain Will- 
iam Tuttle, who said, " There was a path which 
led from the Wicke House down to the Jersey 
camp, and I have often seen that path marked 
with blood, which had been squeezed from the 
cracked and naked feet of some of our sol- 
diers who had gone up to the house to ask 
an alms!" How they suffered there, with the 
snow piled about tliem, with insufficient cloth- 
ing and very scanty and poor food ! And yet 
there was dancing at O'Hara's ! But it is not 
my object to criticise this contrast ; for danc- 
ing and dying, feasting and starvation, plenty 
wreathed with flowers, and gaunt famine, bare- 
foot and wreathed in rags, are contrasted facts 
in other places than at Morristown, and at other 
times than " the present wi^iter of 1780." My 




object in mentioning this subscription paper is 
to throw light on the currency of the day. Here 
were thirteen thousand six hundred dollars sub- 
scribed to pay the dancing-master and tavern- 
keeper for a few nights' entertainment. Nom- 
inally it is up to the extravagance of the mod- 
ern Fifth Avenue; but if you will examine the 
advertisements of the day you will obtain light. 
For instance, here is an old newspaper which 
publishes " One thoiisand co?)/2«e«^a/ dollars re- 
ward for the recovery of my negro man Toney ;" 
while, in the same paper, another man prom- 
ises to give " Thirty Spanish milled dollars for 
the recovery of his mulatto fellow, Jack." 
The thirty silver dollars were worth as much 
as one thousand continental dollars. The en- 
tire sum subscribed by those thirty-four gen- 
tlemen, in 1780, for assembly balls, was not 
worth more than three hundred silver dollars. 
Sparks says " forty paper dollars were worth 
only one in specie." In the "Memorial of the 
officers of the Jersey Brigade to the Legisla- 
ture," in 1779, they say, "Four months' pay of 
a private will not procure his wretched wife 
and children a single bushel of wheat .... 
The pay of a Colonel will not purchase the oats 
for his horse, nor will his whole day's pay pro- 
cure him a single dinner." I have seen a letter 
from General Greene, the Quarter-Master Gen- , 
eral, to his deputies, and their replies to him, 
all of which speak of the state of the currency 
as very nearly worthless. So that, upon the 
whole, we may admire the brave officers at 
Morristown, "this present winter of 1780," 
■U'ho, with "hungry ruin"' staring them in the 
face, sought to relieve the severities of such a 
winter with some of the gayer courtesies of fash- 
ionable life. 

There was but little fighting that winter. On 
the 12th of January Quarter-Master Lewis had 









•ymsBiTientuUs^iu 



,> to Tece've 

SIX SPAA'lSe MttLED 
DOLLARS . OT -th? 
V»!u€ thereof inGOLD 
or. SILVER accfrdiT.(f to 
Rcsotution ot CO.V 
GRESS pnUiiJit Ph = 
luitJphict jVou-2.' I776"- 

^« 

_ ^P 






f.M.9.m?M mmf 




OONTIJMENTAL MONEY. 



WASHINGTON AT MORRTSTOWN. 



803 



orders to pathcr enoufjh sleds to convey Lord 
StiiliiiR's detachment of 2.')0() men, on the 14tli, 
tp Statcn Island; an expedition wliicli Isaac 
Collins thoiij^ht wonld serve " to sliow the I5rit- 
ish mercenaries with what zeal and alacrity the 
Americans will embrace every o]iportiinity, even 
in a very inclement season, to i)romotc tiie in- 
terests of their country, by harassinj^ the en- 
emies to their freedom and independence." 
Diirinp; this expedition " the cold was intense, 
and the limbs of about five hundred of the men 
were frozen." On the nij^ht of 2i1th January 
a party of the enemy crossed to Elizabethtown 
and burned the Presbyterian Church, the Town 
House, and "i)lundcrcd the house of Jcconiah 
Smith." The same night another party " made 
an excursion to Newark, surprised the guard 
there, took Mr. Justice Iledden out of his bed, 
and would not suffer him to dress ; they also 
took Mr. Robert Niel, burned the Academy, and 
went off with precipitation." lliviiifjton's Itoij- 
al (iasette speaks of this Justice Iledden as " a 
rebel magistrate, remarkable for his persecuting 
spirit." 

During this winter Lafayette was in France 
interceding for his beloved America, and did 
not reach this country until the last of April. 
On the 1 tth of February Dr. Thachcr writes 
in iiis journal, with evident exultation, that 
" having continued to this late season in our 
tents, experiencing the greatest inconvenience, 
we have now the satisfaction of taking possession 
of the log-huts just completed by our soldiers, 
where we shall have more comfortable accom- 
modations." In March he writes: 

" Tlie present winter is tlie most severe and distressing 
tl'.at wi- have ever erporicnccd. An immense body of 
snow remains on the ground. Oiir soldiers are in a 
wrttehed condition for want of clothes, blankets, and 
shoes; and these calamitous circuniktanccs are accom- 
panied by a want of provisions. It has several times 
happened that the troops were reduced to one half or to 
one quarter allowance, and some days have passed with- 
out any meat or bread being delivered out." On the I8th 
of March Washington wrote to Lafayette, that " the old- 
est people now living in this country do not remember so 
hard a winter as the one we are now emerging from. In 
a word, the severity of the frost exceeded any thing of 
the kind ever experienced in this climate before." 

In examining some raannscripts in possession 
of a distinguished Jersey man, I found some 
letters from Joseph Lewis, Quarter-Master at 
Morristown, to one of his superiors. In one 
of these letters is the following significant pas- 
sage: 

The Justices (of Morris Connty) at their meeting es- 
tablifhcd the following prices to bo given for hay and 
grain, throughout the country, from 1st Diceinber, 1779. 
to 1st of February next, or until the Regulating act take 
place: 

For hay, Ist finality £100 per ton — $2,'>0 



2d quail y SO 

SdqniOity 60 

Hay for horso 24 hours $0 

" per night ... 4 

Wbcmt, p*r bunhcl 60 

Hyc, per bushel 35 

Com, per bushel 80 

Buckwheat and oat<, pcrbshl. 20 



_: 200 
125 



By putting tiiis price-current alongside of 
the subscription for as.sembly balls, we have a 
well-defined view of the difficulties which met 
Washington in keejiing together some eighteen 
or twenty tiiousand men, and at the same time 
inspiriting them with courage to persevere in 
the conflict with Great Britain. Quarter-Mas- 
ter Lewi.s wrote to his superior, in January, 
1780, that, if he can not be furnished with 
money, he shall be obliged to leave Morristown 
to escape the enraged soldiers. "We are now 
as distressed as want of provision and cash can 
make us. The soldiers have been reduced to 
tiie necessity of robbing the inhabitants to save 
their own lives." In Mi.rch, the distressed lit- 
tle Quarter- .Master became pathetic, and wrote 
to his superior: "I wish I could inhabit some 
kind retreat from those dreadful complaints, 
unless I had a house filled with money, and a 
magazine of forage, to guard and protect me!" 
And again he cries out, "Good God! where 
are our resources fled? We arc truly in a most 
pitiful situation, and almost distracted with calls 
that it is not in our power to answer." 

If we now return to the Ford IMansion, we 
find that young Timothy Ford, son of Washing- 
ton's hostess, has been a great sutTerer the whole 
winter from a severe gunshot wound received 
in a battle the previous fall ; and among other 
pleasing courtesies, wc are told that every morn- 
ing, as Washington left his bedroom, he knocked 
at Timothy's door to ask " IIow the young sol- 
dier had passed the night?" And every one 
who saw these little attentions thouj;ht "how 
beautiful they seemed in so great a man ! " " In 
conversation, his Excellency's expressive coun- 
tenance is peculiarly interesting and pleasing; 
a placid smile is frequently observed on his lips, 
but a loud laugh, it is said, seldom ever escapes 
hira ;" and with this picture of him in mind, I 
love to think of the great Washington standing 
at the young soldier's door, with a kindly smile, 
asking after his health. As for his labors, we 
obtain some idea of these by recurring to his 
correspondence, now with the magistrates of 
New Jersey, now with Governors of the differ- 
ent States, now with Congress, now with his 
general officers — letters all full of wisdom; 
many of them are sorrowful, as, with a winning 
but energetic earnestness, he pleads for his sol- 
diers, who are in want of shoes, blankets, bread, 
and almost eveiT thing else but true patriotism, 
of which they did not lack. lie jdeads for re- 
inforcements, with which he hopes to bear the 
cause of freedom on to victory. In these nu- 
merous letters he sentls out the steady and val- 
iant influences of his own .self-reliant spirit, to 
infuse courage and hope into the hearts of his 
countrymen from Boston to Charleston. I love 
to associate these letters with the old secretary 
and the little ink-stained table, which still re- 
main in the Ford .Mansion. 

Among the letters which Washington wrote 
that winter from the Ford .Mansion was one to 
" Mnjor-Ceneral Arnold," in answer to his let- 
ter requesting " leave of absence from the army 



804 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



during the ensuing summer," for the bene- 
fit of his health. Wasliington writes to him : 
"You have my permission, though it was my 
expectation and wish to see you in the field." 
Then alluding to the birth of a son which Ar- 
nold had communicated, he adds, " Let me 
congratulate you on the late happy event. Mrs. 
Washington joins me in presenting her wishes 
for Mrs. Arnold on tlie occasion." How little 
any of tlie parties to these felicitations could 
anticipate the future ! Before that infant was 
six mouths older his mother was raving like a 
maniac over the infamy of her husband, and the 
name of Benedict Arnold had become a stench 
in the nostrils of eve y American patriot, and 
is likely to continue so while the world endures. 
But while the officers were trying to make 
merry at O'Hara's tavern by indulging in dau- 
cing, and while the soldiers were hungry and 
shivering over on the Wicke Farm, and while 
Washington was animating his countrymen with 
the electricity of his own irrepressible hope- 
fulness and energy, it is a happy circumstance 
that the much-admired and the very admirable 
Franklin has interested whole nations in Eu- 
rope in our affairs, especially France and Spain. 
In April, 1780, we find that the French Minis- 
ter, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, and a distin- 
guished Spanish gentleman, Don Juan de Mi- 
ralle, representing the dignity of his Court be- 
fore our Congress, passed through Trenton on 
their way to the head-quarters at Morristown. 
According to the New Jersey Gazette this was 
on the 18th of April, and on the next day 
"they arrived at head-quarters, in company 
with his Excellency, General Washington. The 
news of help coming from France was circulat- 
ed through the camp, and made it more cheer- 
ful ; and now that the French Minister was to 
visit them, it seemed to the soldiers a proof 
positive that the good news were true. So that 
it was a great day in the Wicke Farm camp 
when these distinguished foreigners were to 
be received. Even soldiers who had neither 
shoes nor coats looked cheerful, as if the good 
time, long expected, was now at hand. Gen- 
eral Washington has many plans to lay before 
these representatives of two powerful allies, 
and of course time did not hang heavily. On 
the 24th Baron Steuben, the accomplished dis- 
ciplinarian to whose severe training our army 
owed so much, has completed his preparation 
for the review of four battalions. This parade 
was piobably somewhere in the vicinity of 
Morristown. An eye-witness makes a large 
draft on his stock of adjectives in describing tlie 
review: "A large stage was erected in the 
field, which was crowded witli officers, ladies 
and gentlemen of distinction from the country, 
among whom were Governor Livingston, of New 
Jersey, and lady. Our troops cxliibited a truly 
military appearance, and performed the ma- 
noeuvres and evolutions in a manner which 
afforded much satisfaction to our Commander- 
in-Chief, and they were honored with the ap- 
probation of the French Minister and all pres- 



ent." Our enthusiastic witness forgot to say 
whether Baron Steuben did or did not bring 
forward on that brilliant occasion any of the 
patriots who had no shoes or coats ; but prob- 
ably they did duty in camp that day, while 
those who were better clothed, but not belter 
disposed, flaunted before sj^ectators their gay- 
est war-plumage. 

" In the evening General Washington and 
the French Minister attended a ball provided 
by our principal officers, at which were present 
a numerous collection of ladies and gentlemen 
of distinguished character. Fire-works were 
also exhibited by the otficers of artillery." So 
that doubtless that night of April 24, 1780, was 
a very merry night ; rockets exploded in the 
air, cannons occasionally roared like thunder, 
and some verj' curious powder-inventions whirled 
and snapped to the vast delight of thousands 
who did not attend the ball. O'Hara's par- 
lors were made as light as they could be with 
good tallow-candles requiring to be snuffed, and 
so, truly, 

"All went merry as a marriage bell." 
History and tradition are both silent as to what 
were the opinions of Deacons Timothy Linds- 
ley, and Philip Condict, and Matthias Burnet, 
and especially good, patriotic. Pastor Johnes, 
concerning these vanities. They were patriots, 
and felt bound to rejoice with those tJiat re- 
joiced that day ; but as Presbyterians, it is 
doubtful whether any of them Avas at O'Hara's 
that night. One thing, however, is certain, that 
Pastor Johnes is feeling sad to learn that his 
parishioner, Jacob Johnson, on whose death- 
bed he has been attending so assiduously for 
weeks, is passing through the article of deatli. 
Jacob Johnson had been a bold rider in Ar- 
nold's troop of light-horse, but a more noted 
man than he was that same night entering " the 
dark valley," and the cheerful light at O'Hara's 
sheds no cheerfulness on the dying. The next 
day Jacob Johnson died, which, to his little 
children and his widow, was a much more in- 
teresting event than another which occurred 
the same day, when "the whole army j^araded 
under arms," in order that the French Minister 
may review them once more before he makes 
report to his master, Louis Sixteenth. 

From Dr. Thacher's Journal and the Neic 
Jersey Gazette, we learn that "the distinguished 
gentleman, Don Juan de Miralles," visited the 
Short Hills on the 1 Oih or 20th of April, and 
undoubtedly admired the magnificent prospect 
there spread out before him. It was then, and 
it is now, a paradisaical prospect, which, once 
seen, is not to be forgotten. 'When Baron Steu- 
ben, on the 24th of April, had arranged the grand 
review of his battalions to the delight of Wash- 
ington, De la Luzerne, and otliers, and that 
night, while the fire-works were flashing their 
beautiful eccentricities in the darkness, and the 
sounds of music and dancing were heard at 
O'Hara's, Don Juan de Miralles was tossing 
with death-fever. Four days afterward he died, 
and on the 29th of April his funeral took place 



WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 



305 




flOtSB NEAK BA6KINQ BIDQE, IN WDIOU OENBHAI. LBB WAS OAPTUBED, IN ITTC. 



iu a style never imitsited or equaled in Morris- | 
town since. Ur. Thacher exhausted all his 
expletive words in expressing his admiration of 
the scene, and doubtless would have used more 
if they had been at hand. Hear him : 

"I ncconipanied Dr. Schuyler to head-quarters to at- 
tend Iho fiinurul of M. de Miralles. The deceased was a 
gentleman of hiph rank in Spain, and liad been about 
one year a resident with our Congress from the Spanish 
Court. The corpse was dressed in rich state and exposed 
to public view, as is cui"tomary in ICurope. The coffin 
was mo-ft iiplcndid and stately, lined throughout witli line 
cambric, ami covered on the outside with rich black vel- 
vet, and ornamented In a superb manner. The top of 
the coffin was removed to display tlie pomp and grandeur 
with which the b'ldy was decorated. It was in a splen- 
di 1 full drens, consLiting of a ccarlct suit, embroidered 
with rich gold lace, a three-cornered pold-lnced hat, a 
genteol-cued wig, white silk stockings, large diamond 
8h«o and knee buckles, a profusion of diamond rin'„'B dec- 
orated the fingers, and from a superb gold watch set with 
diamonds neveral rich seals were suspended. His IC.x- 
celkiicy Cicnenil Washington, with several other general 
officers, and mcmb.T.H of Congres-s, attended the funeral 
B'^lcmnities and walked as chief mourners. The other 
ofTictTt of the army, and nnmer-us respectable citizens, 
formed a splendid procession extending alKiut one mile. 
The pall-bearerB were six field-officers, and the coffin was 
borne on the shouMers of four officers of the artillery In 
full uniform. Minute-guns were fired during the pro- 
cession, which greatly Increased the sulemnity of the oc- 
casion. A .SjianUh priest jxTfomied service at the grave 
in the Itoman Catholic fonn. The coffin was Inclosi'd 
In a lx)X of plank, and In all the prifushm of pomp and 
grandeur was deposit^id In the silent gravi', in the com- 
mon burjlng-ground near the church at M.>rristo»n. A 
guard is placed at the grave lest our soldiers should be 
tempti'd to dig for hidden treasure." 

This jHjm pons funeral, so pompously described, 
was quite in contrast with tUc funeral proccs- 
VoL. XVni.— No. 1U5.— U 



sion which the pre\nous week entered the same 
burying-ground. The numerous friends and 
neighbors of Jacob Johnson made a long pro- 
cession, but his oldest son, Mahlon, who still sur- 
^•ives, remembers that there was only one vehi- 
cle on wheels at that funeral. Dr. Johnes and 
the physician led the procession on horseback, 
and the only wagon present was used to convey 
the cotlin to the grave-yard. All the jjcople, 
men, women, and children, either rode on horse- 
back or walked on foot. At the house the pas- 
tor drew heavenly consolation for the afflicted 
from the Word of God, and at the grave dis- 
missed the people by thanking them for their 
kindness to the dead. And had Dr. Johnes 
ofliciated at the funeral of General Washington 
his services would have been just as simjile and 
unostentatious. These two funerals make no 
uninteresting features in the social life of ilor- 
ristown when Washington si)cnt his last winter 
: there. 

I But more important matters than following 

j a bcjeweled coi-pse to the grave are claiming 

I Washington's attention. The time for opening 

j the canij>aign is close nt hand, stores are to be 

collected, many cavalr}- and baggage horses are 

to be )>rocured, and a great many other things 

' to b^' done, the plans for which must be densed 

j at head-quarters. It is true that Steuben has 

brought the army into such discipline, as to the 

manual exercises and the various evjlutions, as 

was highly gratifying. An eye-witness sjiid, 

" They fire with great exactness, and their ranks 

arc pervaded with spirit and alacrity." Yet 



306 



HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



twenty thousand men in a single campaign 
would eat much bread, wear out many clothes, 
and burn up large quantities of ammunition, and 
all these necessaries must be procured or the 
"army must disband, and dreadful consequences 
ensue — an event," says brave General Greene, 
"I will not torture your feelings with a descrip- 
tion of." For an insight into the difficulties of 
Washington, before the campaign opened, let 
me refer to some unpublished letters of Quar- 
ter-Master Lewis. April 17, 1780, he writes: 
"We are entirely destitute of forage, and every 
thing to encourage the farmers to turn out. I am 
therefore of opinion that we shall be obliged to 
make use of arms to collect teams sufficient to 
move the next division." April 20, he writes : 
"The wages of teams are .£20 per day and found, 
and £40 if they find forage." This was at the 
time the Maryland troops were sent southward, 
as I suppose, under Baron de Kalb. Lewis con- 
tinues : " The distress we are reduced to for want 
of assistance from some quarter is sufficient to 
excite me to i)lead for relief from every quar- 
ter." The poor Quarter-Master cries out in 
distress to his superior, " Have you no words of 
comfort to give me ? I am obliged to make 
brick without straw, or, what is tantamount, I am 
obliged to procure teams and necessaries for the 
army withoitt money or any thing to do it with." 
These petulant and desperate sayings of Lewis, 
who was by no means a great man, are quite as 
indicative of Washington's embarrassments as 
the more dignified sayings of Robert Morris, who 
was a great man. The problem to be solved 
was how to pay for necessaries held at high 
rates with money- nearly worthless — so nearly 
•so, that the merry officers have to pay thirteen 
thousand six hundred dollars for a little fun at 
O'Hara's a few nights ; money so worthless 
that "the pay of a colonel would not purchase 
oats for his horse." That very spring Abraham 
Clark " shuddered at the prospect before us," 
when, with " a vigorous war to prosecute," "our 
money is reduced almost to nothing, and still 
depreciating with rapidity ;" so that " in the mark- 
et a paper dollar is estimated at present at one 
penny, and will soon be less than a half-penny 
in all probability." 

It is true that in February there was held " a 
convention for regulating i)riccs ;" but that con- 
vention coidd not change the unchangeable fact 
that the army must have " 18,000 cwt. of beef 
or pork, 10,000 baiTcls of Hour, 0758 bushels 
of salt, 3.500 tons of hay, 30,000 bushels of corn, 
oats, or buckwheat." It is true that an at- 
tempt was made to legislate the price of pro- 
visions, so that "flour should be four and a 
half dollars per hundred, summer-fatted beef 
five and a half dollars per neat hundred, etc., 
etc." Yet suj)])osing those to be the prices of 
the provisions, but the money was worth "in 
market only one penny to the dollar," then it 
Avould take nine hundred dollars to buy a bar- 
rel of (lour, and even a gallon of rum would cost 
one hundred and fifty dollars ! We quite fiiil 
to comi)rehend tlie situation of our fathers with- 



out taking up facts in detail. We think that in 
our day jirovisions have attained to " starvation 
prices ;" but it is not necessary to give a hand- 
ful of bank-bills for a barrel of flour or seven 
pounds of sugar. No doubt in "the Fifth Av- 
enue" there are far more splendid parties than 
our officers in "the present winter of 1780" had 
at O'Hara's, and yet, nominally, it does not 
cost so much "to yiay the fiddler" in the Fifth 
Avenue as it did in Morristown not quite eigh- 
ty years ago. 

This may be regarded as a low view of patri- 
otism, but it is a plain and apprehensible view. 
I should like to know how rapidly our Govern- 
ment would have carried on the late war with 
Mexico if the currency with which the expen- 
ses were to be defrayed had been made up of 
" Michigan Wild-cat bills." Yet, in spite of 
these circumstances, Washington's faith was 
as steady as the magnetic needle. Although 
"drained and weakened as we already are," 
yet "we must make a decisive effort on our 
part. Our situation demands it. AVe have 
the means of success without some unforeseen 
accident, and it only remains to employ them." 

It was not wonderful that Frederic Freling- 
huysen should speak of " the amazing expense 
of attending Congress, and my inability to sup- 
port it," on a per diem allowance of six shil- 
lings ! It was not wonderful that the officers 
of the Jersey Brigade should entreat the Legis- 
lature for help, and that it required the match- 
less influence of Washington to keep them from 
resigning in a body. The enemy knew our 
weak point, and smuggled into the different 
colonies "cart-loads" of counterfeit bills. The 
difficulties appalled even General Greene, who 
wrote to Washington on the 21st of May: 
"Had your Excellency been as much exposed 
to the murmurs of the people and the com- 
plaints of the officers as I have been, you would 
agree with me in opinion that some healing 
measures are necessary for both, before great 
exertions are to be expected from cither." Well 
said, brave cx-Quaker, not now a non-resist- 
ant, but quite otherwise ! But where are your 
"healing measures" to come from, when com- 
mon sense says there is but one healing meas- 
ure, and that is good hard money, of which 
there is scarce none in the country? Greene 
feared lest our affairs "grow worse and worse, 
until ruin overtake ns;" but Washington said, 
ho])efully, " We have the means of success, and 
it only remains for us to employ them." "Very 
few of the officers were rich," and therefore a 
considerable number of them were "compelled 
to resign their commissions." To complete the 
trying circumstances of the case, the news reach 
Morristown that the enemy at the South is car- 
rying everything before him, and that Charles- 
ton is taken. On Washington rested the almost 
creative work of levying, clothing, feeding, and 
l)aying an .army, without money ; of resisting 
the disposition of desperate officers to resign 
their commissions, and of counteracting the in- 
fluence of defeat at the South, which "the wise 



j»ij|' 



WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 



30; 



ones" prophesied would soon become defeat at 
the North also. What an iron will it is that 
moves the pen at that old secretary in the Ford 
Mansion ! What prodigious courage and re5?o- 
lution are traced on the calm, stern face which 
bends over that table ! The doubting look and 
take courage. Every where his letters speak 
prophecies of success, and reproduce the spirit 
of tiicir writer, North, East, South, and West. 
As he stands among his Jersey officers, well- 
nigh desi)erate by th<;ir worthless pay, he speaks 
to them of the claims of their country ; they 
forget themselves, their sufferings, their beg- 
gary, and i)ut themselves new and living sacri- 
fices on the altar of their country,' exclaiming, 
•'We love tlie service, and we love our coun- 
try I" The intluence whicli beguiled the Jersey 
officers into such noble self-forgetfulness and 
sacrifice for the sake of their country was act- 
ing on thousands -in all parts of the nation ; 
and it is in these facts we find such beautiful 
illustrations of the influence which pre-eminent 
greatness and virtue exert. 

Amidst all the gloomy and depressing circum- 
stances which are associated with Washington 
t'.iat memorable season, there is an anecdote, ap- 
parently trifling, but yet worthy to be told. The 
late General John Doughty, of ilorristown, was 
an officer in the Kcvulutionary war, and knew 
Wasliington during both the winters he spent at 
Morristown. He often told his friends that he 
never heard of Washington's laughing loud but 
once during those two Mintcrs. The exception 
was one that took place in the spring of 1780, 
when Washington had pm-chased a young, spir- 
ited horse of great power, but whicli was not 
broken to the saddle. A man in the army, or 
town, who professed to be a perfect horseman, 
and who made loud proclamation of his gifts 
in that line, solicited and received permission 
from the General to break the horse to the sad- 
dle. Immediately buck of where the ruins of 
the New Jersey Hotel now are was a large yard, 
to which Washington and his friends went to 
see the liorsc receive his first lesson. After 
many preliminary flourishes, the man made a 
leap to the horse's back ; but no sooner was he 
seated than t.lie horse made what is known as a 
"stilf leap," threw down his head and up his 
heels, casting the braggart over his head in a 
sort of clli])tical curve. As Washington look- 
ed at the man unhurt, but rolling in the dirt, 
the ludicrous scene overcame his gravity, ami 
he laughed aloud so heartily that the tears ran 
down his cheeks. 

On the Cth of June General Knqihanscn nt- 
temjjted to reach Morristown. He landed at 
Elizabethtown I'oint, and proceeded as far as 
Connecticut Farms; but General Maxwell, with 
'• his nest of American hornets," set on the in- 
vaders so furiously that they retreated hastily. 
It was during this incursion that Mrs. CaldwcH, 
the wife of the Key. James Caldwell, was wanton- 
ly murdered, asherc|)itaphsays, "by the bloody 
hand of a British ruffian," but in reality by a 
refugee, who shot her "through the window of 



a room to which she had retired for safety and 
prayer, two balls passing through her body." 
This wanton act sent a thrill of horror through 
the nation, and was of sullicicnt importance to 
occupy a place in Washington's correspond- 
ence. 

On the 10th of June Washington was nt 
Springfield, New Jersey, not far west of New- 
ark, at which place he had his head-quarters 
until the 21st, except that one day he was at 
Kockaway. One of his letters states that on 
the 21st tho whole army, except two brigades 
under General Greene, was slowly jiroceeding 
toward the Hudson by way of Pompton. When 
the enemy learned that our troops were on the 
march they made another attempt to reach 
Morristown. The unsleeping sentinels on the 
Short Hills, on the 2;3d of June, detected the 
signs of invasion, and gave the alarm. On that 
day the Battle of Sjjringfield was fought, Knyj)- 
hausen commanding the enemy, and Greene 
our forces. It was on this occasion that tradi- 
tion says that Parson Caldwell, whose wife had 
been shot, was present inspiriting our troops. 
Finding that wadding was needed, he gathered 
up the hymn-books in the old church and dis- 
tril)utcd them, with the significant direction. 
"I'ut Watts into them, boys!" The arrange- 
ments of Greene were consummate, and our 
men acted valorously. Some whole companies 
were cut to pieces. Washington was on his 
way to Pompton when he received word of Knvj)- 
hauscn's incursion, and taking "two brigades 
of light infantry, he endeavored, by a forced 
march, to get into tlie rear of Knyphau<en, and 
prevent his return to New York ; and he would 
have efl'ected his purjiose if the retreat of the 
enemy had been delayed two hours longer." 
The Kev. Jacob Green, of Hanover, was a spec- 
tator of this liattle from the neighboring heights, 
and as several soldiers testify in their pension 
affidavits, the lion-roar of General Wind's voice 
that day vied with the roar of fire-arms. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bcnoni Hathaway — he was mas- 
ter of the magazine of powder, and was afraid 
of nothing but witches, against whose advances 
he guarded himself by the rightly -adjusted 
horse-shoe — was also there, having very unlaw- 
fully broken from the ranks of his cowardly 
General. He led forty jiicked men through an 
un reaped rye-ficld. The standing grain con- 
cealed the movement from the enemy. Sud- 
denly bold Bcnoni's sharj) voice cried out 
"Fire!" and a volley of well-directed bullets 
scn.-ed as a sort of condiment to the enemy's 
dinner. William Ball recorded it in his affida- 
vit that he was a member of the same companv 
with Lieutenant Timothy Tattle, under Gener- 
al Heard. "General Heard seemed slow in 
his movements toward the enemy, and Lieuten- 
ant Tuttle invited all who were willing to face 
the enemy to follow him. lie led us on jtast 
the church and to the battle-ground, in the 
hottest part of it." Ashbel Green was a mem- 
ber of this brigade, and complains that he did 
not get a shot at the enemy, "owing, as I con- 



308 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



ceive, to the cowardice of a certain Brigadier- 
General who commanded us." Aftenvard he 
charitably thinks the General acted from pru- 
dence. 

Benoni Hathaway was gi'eatly incensed at 
the conduct of General Heard, and in tlie ar- 
chives at Trenton may be seen the original 
charges whicli he sent to Governor Livingston, 
demanding that Heard should be tried. I sup- 
l)0se he was not tried ; but the document de- 
serves to be copied entii-e and -literally : 

MoEKiSTOWN 15<A Juhj 1780 

To his Exilencey the Governor 
I send you in Closed Severel charges which I charg 
15. D. Ilaird with while he comanded tlie Militare Sum 
Time in jun Last at Elizabeth Town farms which I pray 
his Exilencey would Call a Court of inquiry on these 
Charges if his Exilencey thinkes it worth notising 
from your Hum Ser 

Benoni Hathaway Lut Coll. 
To Exilencey the Governor. 
This Is the Charges that I bring against General Haird 
While he Comanded the Militia at Elizabeth town farms 
sum Time in Jun last 1780 

1 Charg is for leaving his post and Marching the 
Trups of their post and Leaving that I'ass without aney 
gard between the Enemy and our arraey without giving 
aney notis that pass was open Betweu three and fore 
Ours. 

2 Charg is Retreating in Disorder Before the Enemy 
without ordering aney Reargard or flanks out leading of 
the Retreat Ilim Self 

3 Charg is for marching the Trups of from advantiges 
peace of ground wlieare we mit Noyed tliem much and 
Lickley prevented thear gahiing the Bridg at Fox Hall 
had not the Trups Bin ordered of which prevented our 
giving our armey aney assistance in a Time of great 
Distres. 

4 Charg is for marching the Trups of a Bout one mile 
from aney part of the Enemy and Taken them upon an 
Hy mountain and kept them thear till the Enemy had 
gained Springfeald Bridg. 

List of evidence 
Coll Van Cortland Capt. Nathanal Horton 

Wm Skauk the Brigad Ma- Adjt Kiten King 

jor Major Samuel Hays 

Capt. Benjman Cartur Leutnaut Backover 

This singular document does not speak very 
much for Ilathaway's education ; but it shows 
that, in common with many others, he could 
wield tlie sword and rifle better than the pen. 
This battle at Springfield was a sharply con- 
tested action. Dr. Thacher, who was in one 
of tlie brigades led back by Washington, says : 
"We discovered several fresh graves, and found 
fifteen dead bodies which we buried. We were 
informed by the inhabitants that the enemy 
carried oft' eight or ten wagon loads of dead 
and wounded." As Ashbel Green's company 
was pushing on in hot haste to tlie battle he 
saw " the road in several places literally sprink- 
led with the blood of our wounded countrymen 
as they were carried to a distance from the bat- 
tle-ground." On that day one Mitchel was di- 
rected by his colonel to rescue a man who was 
desperately wounded. As he was executing 
the order the enemy fired a volley, and in after 
years the old man said, "As the bullets went 
whisht by my cars, I vow I was scared !" It was 
on the same day that this man Mitchel was 
scared again by hearing bullets whistling too 
tiear his ears ; and he found at last that a Hes- 



sian, concealed behind a barn, was firing at 
him. Mitchel rushed on the German in great 
fury, and the poor fellow cried out in broken 
English, "Quarter! quarter!" But Mitchel, 
enraged by the fellow's skulking way of fight- 
ing, said, "I'll give you quarter!" and dis- 
charged his gun at him, breaking his arm. He 
then took his prisoner within the American 
lines. This man afterward settled in Morris 
County near his captor, Mitchel, and they 
"were just as good friends as possible. Many 
a time did they fight over the Battle of Spring- 
field over a pitcher of cider." 

But it is time to bring these desultory sketch- 
es to a close. The in- 
terest which is felt in 
even slight things con- 
nected with Washington 
is a sufiicient apology for 
inserting some traditions 
and facts in tliis article 
which have not been 
published before. Some 
years ago the writer was 
well acquainted with a 
large number of aged 
people whose memory 
was stored with incidents 
pertaining to the Revo- 
lution. Among these 
were soldiers who had 
fouglit and suffered in 
tliatwar. Besides these, 
in Morris County are 
many fiimilies whose fa- 
thers lived here during 
that trying period, and 
from these sources I have 
derived many unwritten 
traditions concerning 
Washington while a res- 
ident at Morristown. Be- 
sides these I have in my 
possession, or have had 
access to many old man- 
uscript letters and other 
documents, which have 
aided me in adding 
some light to that inter- 
esting period of Wash- 
ington's life. 

I may appropriately close this historical mon- 
ograph with an original letter of Washington, 
which has never yet been published, and which 
is a very striking commentary on the difficulties 
of his position the last winter he was in Morris- 
town. It was found among some old papers in 
the ]jo3session of Stejjhen Thompson, Esq., of 
Mendliam, New Jersey, a son of Captain David 
Tiiompson, who is referred to in this article. 
It will be remembered tliat the great snow-storm 
which caused such distress in the camp began 
on January 3, 1780. The famine which threat- 
ened the army caused Washington to write a 
letter ' ' to the Magistrates of New Jersey, "which 
is jiublished in Sparks's editions of the Writings 



iiilir 



ANCIENT KIFLK. 



ETHAN ALLEN AND HIS DAUGHTER. 



aor) 



of Washiiifiton. A copy of that letter was in- 
closed in the letter which is now piihlishcd for 
the first time. It is a valuable letter, as sliow- 
inp; that Washington's " integrity was most 
pure, his justice most inflexible." 

" HBAD-QCAnTins, MoKKisTOWM, January 8, 1780. 

"SiK, — The iirosiiudistrcs-ses uf tliu army, with which 
you lire well acquaiiiteil, have (Ictunnined inu to call uinjii 
the respective counties of the State for a proportiou of 
grain and cattle, according to the abilities of each. 

" Tor this puip"se I have addressed the magistrates of 
every county to induce them to undertake the business. 
This mode I have preferred as the one least incon- 
venient to the inhabitants; but, iu case the requisition 
should not be complied with, we must then raise the sup- 
plies ourselves in the best manner we can. This I have 
signified to the magistrates. 

" I have pitched upon you to superintend the execution 
of this measure iu the County of Bergen, which is to fur- 
nish two hundred head of cattle and eight hundred bush- 
els of grain. 

"Vou will proceed, then, with all dispatch, and, call- 
ing upon the Justices, will dclivor tlie inclo.-ed address, 
enforcing it with a more particular detail of the suffer- 
ings of the troops, the better to convince them of the ne- 
cessity of their exertions. You will at the same time let 
them delicately know that you are instructed, in case 
they do not take up the business immediately, to begin 
to impress the articles called for throughout the county. 
You will press for an immediate answer, and govern your- 
self accordingly. If it be a compliance, you will concert 
with them a proper place for the reception of the articles 
and the time of the delivery, which, for the whole, is to 
be in four days after your application to them. The 
owners will bring their grain and cattle to this place, 
where the grain is to be measured and the cattle esti- 
Riated by any two of the magistrates, in conjunction with 
the Commissary, Mr. Voihea, wlio will be sent to you for 
the purpose, and certificates given by the Commissary, 
specifying the quantity of each article and the terms of 
payment. These are to be previously settled with the 
owners, who are to choose whether they will receive the 
present market price — which, if preferred, is to be insert- 
ed — or the market price at the time of payment. Imme- 
diately on receiving the answer of the magistrates you 
will -end me word what it is. 

"In case of refusal, you will begin to impress till you 
make up the (juantity required. This you will do with 
as much tenderness as possible to the inhabitants, hav- 
ing regard to the stock of each individual, that no family 
may be deprived of its necessary subsistence. Milch 
cows are not to be included in the impress. To enable 
you to execute this business with more etTect and less in- 
convenience, you will call upon Colonel Fell and any 
other well-affected active man in the county, and en- 
deavor to engage their advice and assistance. You are 
also authorized to impress wagons for the transportation 
of the grain. 

"If the magistrates undertake the business, which I 
should infinitely prefer on every account, you will en- 
deavor to prevail upon them to assign mills for the re- 
ception and prepanition of such grain as the Commis-sary 
thinks will not be immediately needful in the camp. 

'■ I have reposed this trust in you from a perfect con- 
fidence in your prudence, zeal, and respect for the rights 
of citizens. While your mea-surcs are adapted to the 
emergency, and you consult what yon owe to the service, 
I am persuaded you will not forget that, as we arc com- 
pelled by nece.fsity to take the property of citizens for 
the support of the army, on whom their safety depends, 
you Khould be canful to manifest that we have a respect 
for their rights, and wish not to do any thing which that 
necessity, and even their own good, do not absolutely re- 
quire. 

"I am. Sir, with great respect and esteem, 
" Your most obedient servant, 

"G«. Washi.vqtos. 

" P.S. Aft^r reading the letter to the Juflliccs you will 
seal iL 

•' LT. Col Pe Hakt." 



ETHAN ALLEN AND HIS DAUGHTER. 

[" she was a lovely, pious, young woman, whose mo 
ther, then long in the spirit-land, had instructed her in 
the truths of the IJible. When she was about to die, 
she called her father to her bedside, and, turning upon 
him her pale face, lighted by lustrous blue eyes, she said, 
w ith a sweet voice : ' Dear father, I am about to cross 
the cold, dark river. Shall I trust to your opinions, or 
to the teachings of dear mother T These words, like a 
keen arrow, pierced the recesses of liis most truthful emo- 
tions. 'Trust to your mother 1' said the champion of 
intidolity; and, covering his face with his hands, he 
wept like a child." — Harper's Honthly for Soveniber.] 

" rpHE damps of death are coming fast, 
-L My father, o'er my brow, 
The past with all its scenes has fled. 

And I must turn me now 
To tliat dim future that in vain 

I^Iy feeble eyes descry : 
Tell me, ray father, in this hour 

In whose stern faith to die ? 

"In thine? I've watch'd thy scornful smilo. 

And heard thy withering tone, 
"Whene'er the Christian's humble hope 

Was placed above thine own ; 
I've heard thee speak of coming death 

Without a shade of gloom, 
And laugh at all the childish fears 

That cluster round the tomb. 

"Or is it in my mother's faith? 

How fondly do I trace 
Through many a weary year long j.ast 

That calm and saintly foce ! 
How often do I call to mind, 

Now she is 'neath the sod, 
The place — the hour — in which she drew 

My early thougiits to God! 

" 'Twas then she took this sacred book, 

And from its burning page 
Read how its truths sujjjiort the soul 

In youth and failing age; 
And bade me in its jirecepts live. 

And by its precejjts die, 
That I might share a home of love 

In worlds beyond the sky. 

"My father, .«hall I look above, 

Amid this gathering gloom. 
To Him whose promises of love 

Extend beyond the tomb? 
Or curse the Heing who Jiath bless'd 

This checkered path of mine ; 
Must I embrace my mother's faith, 

t)r die, my sire, in thine '(" 

Tlie frown u[>on that warrior-brow 

Pas.scd like a cloud away. 
And tears coursed down the rugged check 

That Howcd not till that day ; 
'• Not — not in mine" — with choking voice 

The skeptic made reply, 
"But in thy motiier's holy faith. 

My daughter, may'st thou die 1" 

C. C. Cox. 



310 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 




FOLLIES OF FASHION. 

HOW strange is the origin of a fashion ! The 
" abomination of wigs" was first adopted by 
a Duke of Anjoii to conceal a personal defect ! 
Charles the Seventh of France introduced long 
coats to hide his ill-made legs. The absurdly 
long-pointed shoes — often two feet in length — 
were invented by Henry Plantagenet to cover 
a very large excrescence he had upon one of his 
feet. When Francis I. was obliged to wear his 
hair short on account of a wound in the head, 
the crop became the prevailing fashion of his 
Court. Madame de Montespan invented the 
rohp. hattantfi, or lyjoped skirt, to conceal an ac- 
cident in her history; which, however, occurred 
at such regular periods that peo]ile soon began 
to guess the cause when they perceived the ef- 
fect. Not least curious of all is the origin of 
the long-fiishionable shade of yellow called Isa- 
bella. When Ostend was besieged by the Span- 
iards, the Infanta Isabella of Spain, in a lit of 
injudicious patriotism, made a solemn vow not 
to change her linen till the town was taken. 
The besieged, either not hearing this vow or 
else too rel)ellious to regard it, held out till 
time, which sullies every thing, and possibly 
perspiration, if, indeed, Infantas of Spain do 



perspire, brought her Royal Ilighness's linen to 
a color which needed a name. In a person of 
her rank it could not be dhty ; and so it was 
called Isabella, became the fashionable loyal 
color, and was worn, so says the chronicler, 
"with honor by all, and with convenience by 
many" — making loyalty, so to speak, dirt cheap. 
We have it on the best historical authority* 
that the present prominence of the nasal organ 
on the Israelitish face divine is owing, in great 
measure, to the fact that, at one time, when the 
propriety of abolishing that somewhat distinct- 
ive feature was in debate in the Israelitish camp, 
the tyrant Fashion came to its rescue. Here 
is the account of the transaction — not in Ho- 
meric verse, but as veracious as though it were : 

" Says Aaron to Moses, 
Let's cut off our noses; 
Says Moses to Aaron, + 
'Tis the fashion to wear 'em." 

The gentle reader will perceive (on reference 
to the first Jewish countenance he may meet) 
that the plea was found quite unanswerable. 

Wiiat might have been the result had it been 
disregarded who can tell ? 'Tis certain that 

* Mother Buncli. 

t With the caution characteristic of a groat legislator. 



FOLLIES OF FASHION. 



ail 



very sad effects have ensued upon a failure to 
pay proper lieed to the beliests of the niif^hty 
potentate. Take, for instance, the Lili])iuian 
na!;ion, who (as rciorded by their veracious his- 
torian, Swift) dechircd war against the inhabit- 
ants of Blefuscii, solely because the latter re- 
fused to break their eggs at the same end which 
Fashion dictated to the former as the proper 
one for brcakaf:;e. Tlie Bi^-Endian rebellions 
cost the monarch of Liliput not less than forty 
first-rate ships of war, a multitude of smaller 
vessels (the war beinj^ chiefly maritime), and 
30,000 of his best seamen and soldiers; while 
the loss of the Bi}:j-Endians — the rebels — was, 
rightly, much greater. 

So Louis the Eleventh of France had the te- 
merity to crop his hair and shave his beard at 
a time when Fashion dictated ambrosial locks 
and flowing b?ard. What was the consequence ? 
His Queen, Eleanor of Acquitaine, projierly dis- 
gusted at such contempt of ajipcarances, rested 
not till she procured a divorce, and married the 
Count of Anjou, aftenvard King of England. 
Is it too much to sujipose that the interminable 
wars which foHowed upon this alliance were 
brought about, primarily, by the injudicious con- 
duct of King Louis? 

Wiio will say, looking upon these and like 
facts, that Fashion is to be contemned ; or that 
her chiinges arc unworthy the historian's note 
or the philosopher's attention ? As for the pop- 
ular mind — that is, with its usual sagacity keen- 
ly alive to any thing relating to so important a 
subject as dress, as is at once proven by the 
common remark, in every body's mouth, of 
knowing a man by the style of his coat, or, as 
Captain Cuttle would put it, "by the cut of his 
jib." 

First among fashionable follies — on the score 
of absin-dity — come the trunk hose, which were 
thought indispensable about the middle of Queen 
Elizabeth's reign, and which were, in fact, a sort 
of masculine counter-puff to the verdingale, 
which then first began to swell the fair propor- 
tions of feminine loveliness, taking the place of 
the hoop of our day. The coat is what the 
dandy of our times most prides himself on. 
From the time of Henry VIII. of England, and 
for the three succeeding reigns, his breeches 
wore the objects of a young man's chief solici- 
tude. Figure 1, rei)resenting James the First 
of England in hunting costume, is taken from 
a book devoted to various fasiiionaide methods 
of killing time, published in the year 1(!14. It 
will be seen that " the great, round, abominable 
breech," as it was styled, tiien tapered down to 
the knee, and was slasheil all over, ami covereil 
with embroidery and lace. Stays were some- 
times worn beneath the long-waisteil doublets 
of the gentlemen, to keep them strai:.:ht and 
confine them at the waist. In our illustration 
the King is evidently incased in whalebone. 

The fashion varied. We read of "hose 
pleated as though thoy had thirty pockets;" 
" two yards wide at the top;" and (date IG.'iS) 
of " pctticoat-brccchcs, tied above the knee, 




I'lGURE 1. 

ribbons tip to the pocket-holes, half the width 
of the breeches, then ribbons hanging all about 
the waistband, and shirt hnmjinfj out" — which 
last fashion may be said to have altogether died 
out among our modern dandies. We read of 
breeches "almost capable of a bushel of wheat;" 
and of alterations which had to be made in tli« 
British Parliament House, to afi'ord additional 
accommodations for the meml)ers' seats. It is 
related of a fast man of the time, that, on rising 
to conclude a visit of ceremony, he had tiic mis- 
fortune to damage his nether integuments by a 
protruding nail in his chair, so that by the time 
he gained the door the escape of bran was so 
rapid as to cause a state of complete collapse. 

A law was made "against such as did so 
stuff their breeches to make them stand out: 
whereupon," says an ancient worthy, " when a 
certain prisoner (in these tymes) was accused 
for wearing such breeches contrary to law, he 
began to excuse himself of the offence, and en- 
deavoured by little and little to disiliarge him- 
self of that which he did weare witiiin them ; 
he drew out of his breeches a pair of sheets, 
two table-cloaths, ten napkins, four shirts, n 
brush, a glass, a combe, and night-caps, with 
other things of use, saying, 'Your worsiiips may 
understand that because I have no safer a store- 
house, these pockets do ser\-c me for a roomc 
to lay my goods in ; and though it be a straight 
prison, yet it is a store-house bigenough for them, 
for I have many things more yet of value with- 
in them.' And so his tlischargc was accepted 
and well laughed at ; and tiicy commanded him 
that he should not alter tiie furniture of his store- 
house." 

Figure 2 is an excellent representation of a 
dandy of ]CA(\ from a very rare broadside print- 
ed in that year. From the descrii)tion of his gar- 
ments we Icaru that he wears a tall hat with a 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



014 432 788 3 % 




V 



i\,l 



HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



Figure 2. 

bunch of ribbon on one side and a feather on 
the other, his face spotted with patches, two 
love-locks, one on each side of his head, which 
hang down iipon his bosom, and are tied at the 
ends with silk ribbons in bows. A mnstache 
encompasses his mouth. His band or collar, 
edged with lace, is tied with band-strings and 
secured by a ring. A tight vest is left partly 
open, and between it and his breeches his shirt 
sticks out. The cloak was in those days car- 
ried upon the arm. His breeches were orna- 
mented with "many dozens of points at the 
knees, and above these, on either side, were 
two groat bunches of ribbon, of several colors." 
His legs were incased in "boot-hose tops, tied 
above the middle of the calf, as long as a pair 
of shirt-sleeves, and double at the ends, like a 
ruff-band. The tops of the boots were very 
large, fringed with lare, and turned down as 
low as his spurres, which gingled like the bells 
of a mon-ice-dancer as he walked." In his 
right hand he carried a stick, which he "played 
with as he straddled along the street singing." 

With such boots ' ' straddling" was an ungrace- 
ful necessity. A buck of those days, who was 
probably not well up to the straddling dodge, 
complains that " one of the rowels of my silver 
spurs catched hold of the rulHe of my boot, 
which being Spanish leather, and not subject 
to tear, overthrew me !" 

The love-lock worn by our beau caused an 
immense sensation among quiet, staid people. 
Mr. Prynne wrote against it a quarto volume, 
called "The Unlovcliness of Love-locks," in 
which he quotes a nobleman who, having been 
scared from this vanity by a violent sickness, 



" did declare the love-lock to be lAit a cord of 
vanity by which he had given the devil hold 
fast to lead him at his pleasure ; who would 
never resign his prey as long as he nourished 
this unlovely bush." 

J'atchi'!!, mentioned above as one of the dec- 
orations of our beau, were introduced about the 
middle of the seventeenth century. The fash- 
ion is said to have come from Arabia. Among 
Eastern nations a black mole is considered a 
" beauty spot," a fit theme for poetic raptures. 
Hence those to whom Nature had denied this 
boon endeavored to imitate it by means of black 
silk and paste. In England, however, the taste 
was arbitrary, and the excess to which it was 
carried during the reign of Queen Anne was 
as barbarous as comical. Pepys makes fre- 
quent mention of the mode in his " Diary," as : 
"My wife seemed very pretty to-day, it being 
the first time I had given her leave [!] to wear 
a black patch." And again : "May 5 — To the 
Duke of York's Play-house : one thing of fa- 
miliarity I obscn'cd in my Lady Castlemaine ; 
she called to one of her women for a little patch 
oif her face, and put it into her mouth and wet- 
ted it, and so clapped it upon her own, by the 
side of her mouth." 

When at its height the patching mania must 
have made curious havoc among the facial 
charms of the fair daughters of Eve. Various 
shapes were used. A satirical poet of 1G5S 
says : 

" Ilor patches are of every cut, 

For pimples and for scars ; 
Here's all the wandering planets' signs, 

And some of the fixed stars 
Already gummed, to make them stick, 

They need no other sky." 

This lady's face (Figure 3) is from a portrait 
of a I'cigning beauty of those times, and may be 
considered a fair sample of the fashion. She 
has a star and half-moon upon the cheek, a cir- 
cular mark upon her chin, and — marvel of mar- 




FlGTJKB 3. 

vels — a coach, coachman, and two horses with 
postillions upon her forehead ! The last orna- 
ment seems to have been a favorite, for the au- 
thor of " God's Voice against Pride in Ap- 
parel" (1683) says: " Methinks the mourning 



